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Brain amyloid plaques are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and primarily consist of aggregated A? peptides. While A? 1-40 and A? 1-42 are the most abundant, a number of other A? peptides have also been identified. Studies have indicated differential toxicity for these various A? peptides, but in vivo toxicity has not been systematically tested. To address this issue, we generated improved transgenic Drosophila UAS strains expressing 11 pertinent A? peptides. UAS transgenic flies were generated by identical chromosomal insertion, hence removing any transgenic position effects, and crossed to a novel and robust Gal4 driver line. Using this improved Gal4/UAS set-up, survival and activity assays revealed that A? 1-42 severely shortens lifespan and reduces activity. N-terminal truncated peptides were quite toxic, with 3-42 similar to 1-42, while 11-42 showed a pronounced but less severe phenotype. N-terminal mutations in 3-42 (E3A) or 11-42 (E11A) resulted in reduced toxicity for 11-42, and reduced aggregation for both variants. Strikingly, C-terminal truncation of A? (1-41, -40, -39, -38, -37) were non-toxic. In contrast, C-terminal extension to 1-43 resulted in reduced lifespan and activity, but not to the same extent as 1-42. Mutating residue 42 in 1-42 (A42D, A42R and A42W) greatly reduced A? accumulation and toxicity. Histological and biochemical analysis revealed strong correlation between in vivo toxicity and brain A? aggregate load, as well as amount of insoluble A?. This systematic Drosophila in vivo and in vitro analysis reveals crucial N- and C-terminal specificity for A? neurotoxicity and aggregation, and underscores the importance of residues 1-10 and E11, as well as a pivotal role of A42.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is pathologically characterized by extracellular deposition of β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) and intraneuronal accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Because cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is in direct contact with the extracellular space of the brain, it provides a reflection of the biochemical changes in the brain in response to pathological processes. CSF from AD patients shows a decrease in the 42 amino-acid form of Aβ (Aβ42), and increases in total tau and hyperphosphorylated tau, though the mechanisms responsible for these changes are still not fully understood. Transgenic (Tg) mouse models of AD provide an excellent opportunity to investigate how and why Aβ or tau levels in CSF change as the disease progresses. Here, we demonstrate a refined cisterna magna puncture technique for CSF sampling from the mouse. This extremely gentle sampling technique allows serial CSF samples to be obtained from the same mouse at 2-3 month intervals which greatly minimizes the confounding effect of between-mouse variability in Aβ or tau levels, making it possible to detect subtle alterations over time. In combination with Aβ and tau ELISA, this technique will be useful for studies designed to investigate the relationship between the levels of CSF Aβ42 and tau, and their metabolism in the brain in AD mouse models. Studies in Tg mice could provide important validation as to the potential of CSF Aβ or tau levels to be used as biological markers for monitoring disease progression, and to monitor the effect of therapeutic interventions. As the mice can be sacrificed and the brains can be examined for biochemical or histological changes, the mechanisms underlying the CSF changes can be better assessed. These data are likely to be informative for interpretation of human AD CSF changes.

Chromatin is a highly dynamic nucleoprotein complex made of DNA and proteins that controls various DNA-dependent processes. Chromatin structure and function at specific regions is regulated by the local enrichment of histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) and variants, chromatin-binding proteins, including transcription factors, and DNA methylation. The proteomic characterization of chromatin composition at distinct functional regions has been so far hampered by the lack of efficient protocols to enrich such domains at the appropriate purity and amount for the subsequent in-depth analysis by Mass Spectrometry (MS). We describe here a newly designed chromatin proteomics strategy, named ChroP (Chromatin Proteomics), whereby a preparative chromatin immunoprecipitation is used to isolate distinct chromatin regions whose features, in terms of hPTMs, variants and co-associated non-histonic proteins, are analyzed by MS. We illustrate here the setting up of ChroP for the enrichment and analysis of transcriptionally silent heterochromatic regions, marked by the presence of tri-methylation of lysine 9 on histone H3. The results achieved demonstrate the potential of ChroP in thoroughly characterizing the heterochromatin proteome and prove it as a powerful analytical strategy for understanding how the distinct protein determinants of chromatin interact and synergize to establish locus-specific structural and functional configurations.

The blood brain barrier (BBB) specifically regulates molecular and cellular flux between the blood and the nervous tissue. Our aim was to develop and characterize a highly reproducible rat syngeneic in vitro model of the BBB using co-cultures of primary rat brain endothelial cells (RBEC) and astrocytes to study receptors involved in transcytosis across the endothelial cell monolayer. Astrocytes were isolated by mechanical dissection following trypsin digestion and were frozen for later co-culture. RBEC were isolated from 5-week-old rat cortices. The brains were cleaned of meninges and white matter, and mechanically dissociated following enzymatic digestion. Thereafter, the tissue homogenate was centrifuged in bovine serum albumin to separate vessel fragments from nervous tissue. The vessel fragments underwent a second enzymatic digestion to free endothelial cells from their extracellular matrix. The remaining contaminating cells such as pericytes were further eliminated by plating the microvessel fragments in puromycin-containing medium. They were then passaged onto filters for co-culture with astrocytes grown on the bottom of the wells. RBEC expressed high levels of tight junction (TJ) proteins such as occludin, claudin-5 and ZO-1 with a typical localization at the cell borders. The transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) of brain endothelial monolayers, indicating the tightness of TJs reached 300 ohm·cm2 on average. The endothelial permeability coefficients (Pe) for lucifer yellow (LY) was highly reproducible with an average of 0.26 ± 0.11 x 10-3 cm/min. Brain endothelial cells organized in monolayers expressed the efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp), showed a polarized transport of rhodamine 123, a ligand for P-gp, and showed specific transport of transferrin-Cy3 and DiILDL across the endothelial cell monolayer. In conclusion, we provide a protocol for setting up an in vitro BBB model that is highly reproducible due to the quality assurance methods, and that is suitable for research on BBB transporters and receptors.

The traditional strategy for the introduction of chemical functionalities is the use of solid-phase synthesis by appending suitably modified phosphoramidite precursors to the nascent chain. However, the conditions used during the synthesis and the restriction to rather short sequences hamper the applicability of this methodology. On the other hand, modified nucleoside triphosphates are activated building blocks that have been employed for the mild introduction of numerous functional groups into nucleic acids, a strategy that paves the way for the use of modified nucleic acids in a wide-ranging palette of practical applications such as functional tagging and generation of ribozymes and DNAzymes. One of the major challenges resides in the intricacy of the methodology leading to the isolation and characterization of these nucleoside analogues.
In this video article, we present a detailed protocol for the synthesis of these modified analogues using phosphorous(III)-based reagents. In addition, the procedure for their biochemical characterization is divulged, with a special emphasis on primer extension reactions and TdT tailing polymerization. This detailed protocol will be of use for the crafting of modified dNTPs and their further use in chemical biology.

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the most widely used expression system for the production of recombinant proteins for structural and functional studies. However, purifying proteins is sometimes challenging since many proteins are expressed in an insoluble form. When working with difficult or multiple targets it is therefore recommended to use high throughput (HTP) protein expression screening on a small scale (1-4 ml cultures) to quickly identify conditions for soluble expression. To cope with the various structural genomics programs of the lab, a quantitative (within a range of 0.1-100 mg/L culture of recombinant protein) and HTP protein expression screening protocol was implemented and validated on thousands of proteins. The protocols were automated with the use of a liquid handling robot but can also be performed manually without specialized equipment.
Disulfide-rich venom proteins are gaining increasing recognition for their potential as therapeutic drug leads. They can be highly potent and selective, but their complex disulfide bond networks make them challenging to produce. As a member of the FP7 European Venomics project (www.venomics.eu), our challenge is to develop successful production strategies with the aim of producing thousands of novel venom proteins for functional characterization. Aided by the redox properties of disulfide bond isomerase DsbC, we adapted our HTP production pipeline for the expression of oxidized, functional venom peptides in the E. coli cytoplasm. The protocols are also applicable to the production of diverse disulfide-rich proteins. Here we demonstrate our pipeline applied to the production of animal venom proteins. With the protocols described herein it is likely that soluble disulfide-rich proteins will be obtained in as little as a week. Even from a small scale, there is the potential to use the purified proteins for validating the oxidation state by mass spectrometry, for characterization in pilot studies, or for sensitive micro-assays.

For more than 20 years, reverse pharmacology has been the preeminent strategy to discover the activating ligands of orphan G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The onset of a reverse pharmacology assay is the cloning and subsequent transfection of a GPCR of interest in a cellular expression system. The heterologous expressed receptor is then challenged with a compound library of candidate ligands to identify the receptor-activating ligand(s). Receptor activation can be assessed by measuring changes in concentration of second messenger reporter molecules, like calcium or cAMP. The fluorescence-based calcium mobilization assay described here is a frequently used medium-throughput reverse pharmacology assay. The orphan GPCR is transiently expressed in human embryonic kidney 293T (HEK293T) cells and a promiscuous Gα16 construct is co-transfected. Following ligand binding, activation of the Gα16 subunit induces the release of calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum. Prior to ligand screening, the receptor-expressing cells are loaded with a fluorescent calcium indicator, Fluo-4 acetoxymethyl. The fluorescent signal of Fluo-4 is negligible in cells under resting conditions, but can be amplified more than a 100-fold upon the interaction with calcium ions that are released after receptor activation. The described technique does not require the time-consuming establishment of stably transfected cell lines in which the transfected genetic material is integrated into the host cell genome. Instead, a transient transfection, generating temporary expression of the target gene, is sufficient to perform the screening assay. The setup allows medium-throughput screening of hundreds of compounds. Co-transfection of the promiscuous Gα16, which couples to most GPCRs, allows the intracellular signaling pathway to be redirected towards the release of calcium, regardless of the native signaling pathway in endogenous settings. The HEK293T cells are easy to handle and have proven their efficacy throughout the years in receptor deorphanization assays. However, optimization of the assay for specific receptors may remain necessary.

Alzheimer's disease is one of a large group of neurodegenerative disorders known as tauopathies that are manifested by the neuronal deposits of hyperphosphorylated tau protein in the form of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). The density of NFT correlates well with cognitive impairment and other neurodegenerative symptoms, thus prompting the endeavor of developing tau aggregation-based therapeutics. Thus far, however, tau aggregation assays use recombinant or synthetic tau that is devoid of the pathology-related phosphorylation marks. Here we describe two assays using recombinant, hyperphosphorylated tau as the subject. These assays can be scaled up for high-throughput screens for compounds that can modulate the kinetics or stability of hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates. Novel therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies can potentially be discovered using hyperphosphorylated tau isoforms.

The ability to monitor T cell responses in vivo is important for the development of our understanding of the immune response and the design of immunotherapies. Here we describe the use of fluorescent target array (FTA) technology, which utilizes vital dyes such as carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE), violet laser excitable dyes (CellTrace Violet: CTV) and red laser excitable dyes (Cell Proliferation Dye eFluor 670: CPD) to combinatorially label mouse lymphocytes into >250 discernable fluorescent cell clusters. Cell clusters within these FTAs can be pulsed with major histocompatibility (MHC) class-I and MHC class-II binding peptides and thereby act as target cells for CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, respectively. These FTA cells remain viable and fully functional, and can therefore be administered into mice to allow assessment of CD8+ T cell-mediated killing of FTA target cells and CD4+ T cell-meditated help of FTA B cell target cells in real time in vivo by flow cytometry. Since >250 target cells can be assessed at once, the technique allows the monitoring of T cell responses against several antigen epitopes at several concentrations and in multiple replicates. As such, the technique can measure T cell responses at both a quantitative (e.g. the cumulative magnitude of the response) and a qualitative (e.g. functional avidity and epitope-cross reactivity of the response) level. Herein, we describe how these FTAs are constructed and give an example of how they can be applied to assess T cell responses induced by a recombinant pox virus vaccine.

Institutions: University of Georgia, University of Georgia, Ishikawa Prefectural University.

Separation of proteins by SDS-PAGE followed by in-gel proteolytic digestion of resolved protein bands has produced high-resolution proteomic analysis of biological samples. Similar approaches, that would allow in-depth analysis of the glycans carried by glycoproteins resolved by SDS-PAGE, require special considerations in order to maximize recovery and sensitivity when using mass spectrometry (MS) as the detection method. A major hurdle to be overcome in achieving high-quality data is the removal of gel-derived contaminants that interfere with MS analysis. The sample workflow presented here is robust, efficient, and eliminates the need for in-line HPLC clean-up prior to MS. Gel pieces containing target proteins are washed in acetonitrile, water, and ethyl acetate to remove contaminants, including polymeric acrylamide fragments. O-linked glycans are released from target proteins by in-gel reductive β-elimination and recovered through robust, simple clean-up procedures. An advantage of this workflow is that it improves sensitivity for detecting and characterizing sulfated glycans. These procedures produce an efficient separation of sulfated permethylated glycans from non-sulfated (sialylated and neutral) permethylated glycans by a rapid phase-partition prior to MS analysis, and thereby enhance glycomic and sulfoglycomic analyses of glycoproteins resolved by SDS-PAGE.

Lysine methylation is an emerging post-translation modification and it has been identified on several histone and non-histone proteins, where it plays crucial roles in cell development and many diseases. Approximately 5,000 lysine methylation sites were identified on different proteins, which are set by few dozens of protein lysine methyltransferases. This suggests that each PKMT methylates multiple proteins, however till now only one or two substrates have been identified for several of these enzymes. To approach this problem, we have introduced peptide array based substrate specificity analyses of PKMTs. Peptide arrays are powerful tools to characterize the specificity of PKMTs because methylation of several substrates with different sequences can be tested on one array. We synthesized peptide arrays on cellulose membrane using an Intavis SPOT synthesizer and analyzed the specificity of various PKMTs. Based on the results, for several of these enzymes, novel substrates could be identified. For example, for NSD1 by employing peptide arrays, we showed that it methylates K44 of H4 instead of the reported H4K20 and in addition H1.5K168 is the highly preferred substrate over the previously known H3K36. Hence, peptide arrays are powerful tools to biochemically characterize the PKMTs.

Prions are unconventional self-propagating proteinaceous particles, devoid of any coding nucleic acid. These proteinaceous seeds serve as templates for the conversion and replication of their benign cellular isoform. Accumulating evidence suggests that many protein aggregates can act as self-propagating templates and corrupt the folding of cognate proteins. Although aggregates can be functional under certain circumstances, this process often leads to the disruption of the cellular protein homeostasis (proteostasis), eventually leading to devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). The exact mechanisms of prion propagation and cell-to-cell spreading of protein aggregates are still subjects of intense investigation. To further this knowledge, recently a new metazoan model in Caenorhabditis elegans, for expression of the prion domain of the cytosolic yeast prion protein Sup35 has been established. This prion model offers several advantages, as it allows direct monitoring of the fluorescently tagged prion domain in living animals and ease of genetic approaches. Described here are methods to study prion-like behavior of protein aggregates and to identify modifiers of prion-induced toxicity using C. elegans.

Small molecules provide rich targets for biosensing applications due to their physiological implications as biomarkers of various aspects of human health and performance. Nucleic acid aptamers have been increasingly applied as recognition elements on biosensor platforms, but selecting aptamers toward small molecule targets requires special design considerations. This work describes modification and critical steps of a method designed to select structure-switching aptamers to small molecule targets. Binding sequences from a DNA library hybridized to complementary DNA capture probes on magnetic beads are separated from nonbinders via a target-induced change in conformation. This method is advantageous because sequences binding the support matrix (beads) will not be further amplified, and it does not require immobilization of the target molecule. However, the melting temperature of the capture probe and library is kept at or slightly above RT, such that sequences that dehybridize based on thermodynamics will also be present in the supernatant solution. This effectively limits the partitioning efficiency (ability to separate target binding sequences from nonbinders), and therefore many selection rounds will be required to remove background sequences. The reported method differs from previous structure-switching aptamer selections due to implementation of negative selection steps, simplified enrichment monitoring, and extension of the length of the capture probe following selection enrichment to provide enhanced stringency. The selected structure-switching aptamers are advantageous in a gold nanoparticle assay platform that reports the presence of a target molecule by the conformational change of the aptamer. The gold nanoparticle assay was applied because it provides a simple, rapid colorimetric readout that is beneficial in a clinical or deployed environment. Design and optimization considerations are presented for the assay as proof-of-principle work in buffer to provide a foundation for further extension of the work toward small molecule biosensing in physiological fluids.

Institutions: University of Münster, Carnegie Institution for Science.

The introduced protocol provides a tool for the analysis of multiprotein complexes in the thylakoid membrane, by revealing insights into complex composition under different conditions. In this protocol the approach is demonstrated by comparing the composition of the protein complex responsible for cyclic electron flow (CEF) in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, isolated from genetically different strains. The procedure comprises the isolation of thylakoid membranes, followed by their separation into multiprotein complexes by sucrose density gradient centrifugation, SDS-PAGE, immunodetection and comparative, quantitative mass spectrometry (MS) based on differential metabolic labeling (14N/15N) of the analyzed strains. Detergent solubilized thylakoid membranes are loaded on sucrose density gradients at equal chlorophyll concentration. After ultracentrifugation, the gradients are separated into fractions, which are analyzed by mass-spectrometry based on equal volume. This approach allows the investigation of the composition within the gradient fractions and moreover to analyze the migration behavior of different proteins, especially focusing on ANR1, CAS, and PGRL1. Furthermore, this method is demonstrated by confirming the results with immunoblotting and additionally by supporting the findings from previous studies (the identification and PSI-dependent migration of proteins that were previously described to be part of the CEF-supercomplex such as PGRL1, FNR, and cyt f). Notably, this approach is applicable to address a broad range of questions for which this protocol can be adopted and e.g. used for comparative analyses of multiprotein complex composition isolated from distinct environmental conditions.

Genetic screens conducted using Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) have made numerous milestone discoveries in the advance of biological sciences. However, the use of biochemical screens aimed at extending the knowledge gained from genetic analysis was explored only recently. Here we describe a method to purify the protein complex that associates with any protein of interest from adult fly heads. This method takes advantage of the Drosophila GAL4/UAS system to express a bait protein fused with a Tandem Affinity Purification (TAP) tag in fly neurons in vivo, and then implements two rounds of purification using a TAP procedure similar to the one originally established in yeast1 to purify the interacting protein complex. At the end of this procedure, a mixture of multiple protein complexes is obtained whose molecular identities can be determined by mass spectrometry. Validation of the candidate proteins will benefit from the resource and ease of performing loss-of-function studies in flies. Similar approaches can be applied to other fly tissues. We believe that the combination of genetic manipulations and this proteomic approach in the fly model system holds tremendous potential for tackling fundamental problems in the field of neurobiology and beyond.

Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles.

The assembly of amyloidogenic proteins into toxic oligomers is a seminal event in the pathogenesis of protein misfolding diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases, hereditary amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and type 2 diabetes. Owing to the metastable nature of these protein assemblies, it is difficult to assess their oligomer size distribution quantitatively using classical methods, such as electrophoresis, chromatography, fluorescence, or dynamic light scattering. Oligomers of amyloidogenic proteins exist as metastable mixtures, in which the oligomers dissociate into monomers and associate into larger assemblies simultaneously. PICUP stabilizes oligomer populations by covalent cross-linking and when combined with fractionation methods, such as sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) or size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), PICUP provides snapshots of the oligomer size distributions that existed before cross-linking. Hence, PICUP enables visualization and quantitative analysis of metastable protein populations and can be used to monitor assembly and decipher relationships between sequence modifications and oligomerization1. Mechanistically, PICUP involves photo-oxidation of Ru2+ in a tris(bipyridyl)Ru(II) complex (RuBpy) to Ru3+ by irradiation with visible light in the presence of an electron acceptor. Ru3+ is a strong one-electron oxidizer capable of abstracting an electron from a neighboring protein molecule, generating a protein radical1,2. Radicals are unstable, highly-reactive species and therefore disappear rapidly through a variety of intra- and intermolecular reactions. A radical may utilize the high energy of an unpaired electron to react with another protein monomer forming a dimeric radical, which subsequently loses a hydrogen atom and forms a stable, covalently-linked dimer. The dimer may then react further through a similar mechanism with monomers or other dimers to form higher-order oligomers. Advantages of PICUP relative to other photo- or chemical cross-linking methods3,4 include short (≤1 s) exposure to non-destructive visible light, no need for pre facto modification of the native sequence, and zero-length covalent cross-linking. In addition, PICUP enables cross-linking of proteins within wide pH and temperature ranges, including physiologic parameters. Here, we demonstrate application of PICUP to cross-linking of three amyloidogenic proteins the 40- and 42-residue amyloid β-protein variants (Aβ40 and Aβ42), and calcitonin, and a control protein, growth-hormone releasing factor (GRF).

Impairment of synaptic connections is likely to underlie the subtle amnesic changes occurring at the early stages of Alzheimer s Disease (AD). β-amyloid (Aβ), a peptide produced in high amounts in AD, is known to reduce Long-Term Potentiation (LTP), a cellular correlate of learning and memory. Indeed, LTP impairment caused by Aβ is a useful experimental paradigm for studying synaptic dysfunctions in AD models and for screening drugs capable of mitigating or reverting such synaptic impairments. Studies have shown that Aβ produces the LTP disruption preferentially via its oligomeric form. Here we provide a detailed protocol for impairing LTP by perfusion of oligomerized synthetic Aβ1-42 peptide onto acute hippocampal slices. In this video, we outline a step-by-step procedure for the preparation of oligomeric Aβ1-42. Then, we follow an individual experiment in which LTP is reduced in hippocampal slices exposed to oligomerized Aβ1-42 compared to slices in a control experiment where no Aβ1-42 exposure had occurred.

Heterogeneous nature of tissues has proven to be a limiting factor in the amount of information that can be generated from biological samples, compromising downstream analyses. Considering the complex and dynamic cellular associations existing within many tissues, in order to recapitulate the in vivo interactions thorough molecular analysis one must be able to analyze specific cell populations within their native context. Laser-mediated microdissection can achieve this goal, allowing unambiguous identification and successful harvest of cells of interest under direct microscopic visualization while maintaining molecular integrity. We have applied this technology to analyse gene expression within defined areas of the developing Drosophila wing disc, which represents an advantageous model system to study growth control, cell differentiation and organogenesis. Larval imaginal discs are precociously subdivided into anterior and posterior, dorsal and ventral compartments by lineage restriction boundaries. Making use of the inducible GAL4-UAS binary expression system, each of these compartments can be specifically labelled in transgenic flies expressing an UAS-GFP transgene under the control of the appropriate GAL4-driver construct. In the transgenic discs, gene expression profiling of discrete subsets of cells can precisely be determined after laser-mediated microdissection, using the fluorescent GFP signal to guide laser cut.
Among the variety of downstream applications, we focused on RNA transcript profiling after localised RNA interference (RNAi). With the advent of RNAi technology, GFP labelling can be coupled with localised knockdown of a given gene, allowing to determinate the transcriptional response of a discrete cell population to the specific gene silencing. To validate this approach, we dissected equivalent areas of the disc from the posterior (labelled by GFP expression), and the anterior (unlabelled) compartment upon regional silencing in the P compartment of an otherwise ubiquitously expressed gene. RNA was extracted from microdissected silenced and unsilenced areas and comparative gene expression profiling determined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. We show that this method can effectively be applied for accurate transcriptomics of subsets of cells within the Drosophila imaginal discs. Indeed, while massive disc preparation as source of RNA generally assumes cell homogeneity, it is well known that transcriptional expression can vary greatly within these structures in consequence of positional information. Using localized fluorescent GFP signal to guide laser cut, more accurate transcriptional analyses can be performed and profitably applied to disparate applications, including transcript profiling of distinct cell lineages within their native context.

Institutions: Emory University, Tsukuba University, New York University School of Medicine, Emory University.

The anomalous folding and polymerization of the β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide is thought to initiate the neurodegenerative cascade in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis1. Aβ is predominantly a 40- or 42-amino acid peptide that is prone to self-aggregation into β-sheet-rich amyloid fibrils that are found in the cores of cerebral senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease. Increasing evidence suggests that low molecular weight, soluble Aβ multimers are more toxic than fibrillar Aβ amyloid2. The identification and quantification of low- and high-molecular weight multimeric Aβ species in brain tissue is an essential objective in Alzheimer's disease research, and the methods employed also can be applied to the identification and characterization of toxic multimers in other proteopathies3. Naturally occurring Aβ multimers can be detected by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by immunoblotting with Aβ-specific antibodies. However, the separation and detection of multimeric Aβ requires the use of highly concentrated cortical homogenates and antigen retrieval in small pore-size nitrocellulose membranes. Here we describe a technique for the preparation of clarified human cortical homogenates, separation of proteins by SDS-PAGE, and antigen-epitope retrieval/Western blotting with antibody 6E10 to the N-terminal region of the Aβ peptide. Using this protocol, we consistently detect Aβ monomers, dimers, trimers, tetramers, and higher molecular weight multimers in cortical tissue from humans with Alzheimer's pathology.

Accumulation of the β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) is generally believed to be central to the induction of Alzheimer's disease, but the relevant mechanism(s) of toxicity are still unclear. Aβ is also deposited intramuscularly in Inclusion Body Myositis, a severe human myopathy. The intensely studied nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans can be transgenically engineered to express human Aβ. Depending on the tissue or timing of Aβ expression, transgenic worms can have readily measurable phenotypes that serve as a read-out of Aβ toxicity. For example, transgenic worms with pan-neuronal Aβ expression have defects is associative learning (Dosanjh et al. 2009), while transgenic worms with constitutive muscle-specific expression show a progressive, age-dependent paralysis phenotype (Link, 1995; Cohen et al. 2006). One particularly useful C. elegans model employs a temperature-sensitive mutation in the mRNA surveillance system to engineer temperature-inducible muscle expression of an Aβ transgene, resulting in a reproducible paralysis phenotype upon temperature upshift (Link et al. 2003). Treatments that counter Aβ toxicity in this model [e.g., expression of a protective transgene (Hassan et al. 2009) or exposure to Ginkgo biloba extracts (Wu et al. 2006)] reproducibly alter the rate of paralysis induced by temperature upshift of these transgenic worms. Here we describe our protocol for measuring the rate of paralysis in this transgenic C. elegans model, with particular attention to experimental variables that can influence this measurement.

The Gal4/ UAS binary method is powerful for gene and neural circuitry manipulation in Drosophila. For most neurobiological studies, however, Gal4 expression is rarely tissue-specific enough to allow for precise correlation of the circuit with behavioral readouts. To overcome this major hurdle, we recently developed the FINGR method to achieve a more restrictive Gal4 expression in the tissue of interest. The FINGR method has three components: 1) the traditional Gal4/UAS system; 2) a set of FLP/FRT-mediated Gal80 converting tools; and 3) enhancer-trap FLP (ET-FLP). Gal4 is used to define the primary neural circuitry of interest. Paring the Gal4 with a UAS-effector, such as UAS-MJD78Q or UAS-Shits, regulates the neuronal activity, which is in turn manifested by alterations in the fly behavior. With an additional UAS-reporter such as UAS-GFP, the neural circuit involved in the specific behavior can be simultaneously mapped for morphological analysis. For Gal4 lines with broad expression, Gal4 expression can be restricted by using two complementary Gal80-converting tools: tubP>Gal80> ('flip out') and tubP>stop>Gal80 ('flip in'). Finally, investigators can turn Gal80 on or off, respectively, with the help of tissue-specific ET-FLP. In the flip-in mode, Gal80 will repress Gal4 expression wherever Gal4 and ET-FLP intersect. In the flip-out mode, Gal80 will relieve Gal4 repression in cells in which Gal4 and FLP overlap. Both approaches enable the restriction of the number of cells in the Gal4-defined circuitry, but in an inverse pattern. The FINGR method is compatible with the vast collection of Gal4 lines in the fly community and highly versatile for traditional clonal analysis and for neural circuit mapping. In this protocol, we demonstrate the mapping of FLP expression patterns in select ET-FLPx2 lines and the effectiveness of the FINGR method in photoreceptor cells. The principle of the FINGR method should also be applicable to other genetic model organisms in which Gal4/UAS, Gal80, and FLP/FRT are used.

Protein misfolding is associated with many human diseases, particularly neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease 1. Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by the abnormal expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ) region within the protein huntingtin. The polyQ-expanded huntingtin protein attains an aberrant conformation (i.e. it misfolds) and causes cellular toxicity 2. At least eight further neurodegenerative diseases are caused by polyQ-expansions, including the Spinocerebellar Ataxias and Kennedy’s disease 3.
The model organism yeast has facilitated significant insights into the cellular and molecular basis of polyQ-toxicity, including the impact of intra- and inter-molecular factors of polyQ-toxicity, and the identification of cellular pathways that are impaired in cells expressing polyQ-expansion proteins 3-8. Importantly, many aspects of polyQ-toxicity that were found in yeast were reproduced in other experimental systems and to some extent in samples from HD patients, thus demonstrating the significance of the yeast model for the discovery of basic mechanisms underpinning polyQ-toxicity.
A direct and relatively simple way to determine polyQ-toxicity in yeast is to measure growth defects of yeast cells expressing polyQ-expansion proteins. This manuscript describes three complementary experimental approaches to determine polyQ-toxicity in yeast by measuring the growth of yeast cells expressing polyQ-expansion proteins. The first two experimental approaches monitor yeast growth on plates, the third approach monitors the growth of liquid yeast cultures using the BioscreenC instrument.
Furthermore, this manuscript describes experimental difficulties that can occur when handling yeast polyQ models and outlines strategies that will help to avoid or minimize these difficulties. The protocols described here can be used to identify and to characterize genetic pathways and small molecules that modulate polyQ-toxicity. Moreover, the described assays may serve as templates for accurate analyses of the toxicity caused by other disease-associated misfolded proteins in yeast models.

Institutions: University of Florida , University of Florida , University of Florida , University of Florida .

For the last decade, we have tried to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuronal degeneration using Drosophila as a model organism. Although fruit flies provide obvious experimental advantages, research on neurodegenerative diseases has mostly relied on traditional techniques, including genetic interaction, histology, immunofluorescence, and protein biochemistry. These techniques are effective for mechanistic, hypothesis-driven studies, which lead to a detailed understanding of the role of single genes in well-defined biological problems. However, neurodegenerative diseases are highly complex and affect multiple cellular organelles and processes over time. The advent of new technologies and the omics age provides a unique opportunity to understand the global cellular perturbations underlying complex diseases. Flexible model organisms such as Drosophila are ideal for adapting these new technologies because of their strong annotation and high tractability. One challenge with these small animals, though, is the purification of enough informational molecules (DNA, mRNA, protein, metabolites) from highly relevant tissues such as fly brains. Other challenges consist of collecting large numbers of flies for experimental replicates (critical for statistical robustness) and developing consistent procedures for the purification of high-quality biological material. Here, we describe the procedures for collecting thousands of fly heads and the extraction of transcripts and metabolites to understand how global changes in gene expression and metabolism contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. These procedures are easily scalable and can be applied to the study of proteomic and epigenomic contributions to disease.

Drosophila melanogaster is a valuable model organism to study aging and pathological degenerative processes in the nervous system. The advantages of the fly as an experimental system include its genetic tractability, short life span and the possibility to observe and quantitatively analyze complex behaviors. The expression of disease-linked genes in specific neuronal populations of the Drosophila brain, can be used to model human neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's 5.
Dopaminergic (DA) neurons are among the most vulnerable neuronal populations in the aging human brain. In Parkinson's disease (PD), the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, the accelerated loss of DA neurons leads to a progressive and irreversible decline in locomotor function. In addition to age and exposure to environmental toxins, loss of DA neurons is exacerbated by specific mutations in the coding or promoter regions of several genes. The identification of such PD-associated alleles provides the experimental basis for the use of Drosophila as a model to study neurodegeneration of DA neurons in vivo. For example, the expression of the PD-linked human α-synuclein gene in Drosophila DA neurons recapitulates some features of the human disease, e.g. progressive loss of DA neurons and declining locomotor function 2. Accordingly, this model has been successfully used to identify potential therapeutic targets in PD 8.
Here we describe two assays that have commonly been used to study age-dependent neurodegeneration of DA neurons in Drosophila: a climbing assay based on the startle-induced negative geotaxis response and tyrosine hydroxylase immunostaining of whole adult brain mounts to monitor the number of DA neurons at different ages. In both cases, in vivo expression of UAS transgenes specifically in DA neurons can be achieved by using a tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) promoter-Gal4 driver line 3, 10.

Manual cell counts on a microscope are a sensitive means of assessing cellular viability but are time-consuming and therefore expensive. Computerized viability assays are expensive in terms of equipment but can be faster and more objective than manual cell counts. The present report describes the use of three such viability assays. Two of these assays are infrared and one is luminescent. Both infrared assays rely on a 16 bit Odyssey Imager. One infrared assay uses the DRAQ5 stain for nuclei combined with the Sapphire stain for cytosol and is visualized in the 700 nm channel. The other infrared assay, an In-Cell Western, uses antibodies against cytoskeletal proteins (α-tubulin or microtubule associated protein 2) and labels them in the 800 nm channel. The third viability assay is a commonly used luminescent assay for ATP, but we use a quarter of the recommended volume to save on cost. These measurements are all linear and correlate with the number of cells plated, but vary in sensitivity. All three assays circumvent time-consuming microscopy and sample the entire well, thereby reducing sampling error. Finally, all of the assays can easily be completed within one day of the end of the experiment, allowing greater numbers of experiments to be performed within short timeframes. However, they all rely on the assumption that cell numbers remain in proportion to signal strength after treatments, an assumption that is sometimes not met, especially for cellular ATP. Furthermore, if cells increase or decrease in size after treatment, this might affect signal strength without affecting cell number. We conclude that all viability assays, including manual counts, suffer from a number of caveats, but that computerized viability assays are well worth the initial investment. Using all three assays together yields a comprehensive view of cellular structure and function.

Microwave-assisted Functionalization of Poly(ethylene glycol) and On-resin Peptides for Use in Chain Polymerizations and Hydrogel Formation

Authors: Amy H. Van Hove, Brandon D. Wilson, Danielle S. W. Benoit.

Institutions: University of Rochester, University of Rochester, University of Rochester Medical Center.

One of the main benefits to using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) macromers in hydrogel formation is synthetic versatility. The ability to draw from a large variety of PEG molecular weights and configurations (arm number, arm length, and branching pattern) affords researchers tight control over resulting hydrogel structures and properties, including Young’s modulus and mesh size. This video will illustrate a rapid, efficient, solvent-free, microwave-assisted method to methacrylate PEG precursors into poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDM). This synthetic method provides much-needed starting materials for applications in drug delivery and regenerative medicine. The demonstrated method is superior to traditional methacrylation methods as it is significantly faster and simpler, as well as more economical and environmentally friendly, using smaller amounts of reagents and solvents. We will also demonstrate an adaptation of this technique for on-resin methacrylamide functionalization of peptides. This on-resin method allows the N-terminus of peptides to be functionalized with methacrylamide groups prior to deprotection and cleavage from resin. This allows for selective addition of methacrylamide groups to the N-termini of the peptides while amino acids with reactive side groups (e.g. primary amine of lysine, primary alcohol of serine, secondary alcohols of threonine, and phenol of tyrosine) remain protected, preventing functionalization at multiple sites. This article will detail common analytical methods (proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (;H-NMR) and Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time of Flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF)) to assess the efficiency of the functionalizations. Common pitfalls and suggested troubleshooting methods will be addressed, as will modifications of the technique which can be used to further tune macromer functionality and resulting hydrogel physical and chemical properties. Use of synthesized products for the formation of hydrogels for drug delivery and cell-material interaction studies will be demonstrated, with particular attention paid to modifying hydrogel composition to affect mesh size, controlling hydrogel stiffness and drug release.

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease affecting the aging population. A key neuropathological feature of the disease is the over-production of amyloid-beta and the deposition of amyloid-beta plaques in brain regions of the afflicted individuals. Throughout the years scientists have generated numerous Alzheimer’s disease mouse models that attempt to replicate the amyloid-beta pathology. Unfortunately, the mouse models only selectively mimic the disease features. Neuronal death, a prominent effect in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, is noticeably lacking in these mice. Hence, we and others have employed a method of directly infusing soluble oligomeric species of amyloid-beta - forms of amyloid-beta that have been proven to be most toxic to neurons - stereotaxically into the brain. In this report we utilize male C57BL/6J mice to document this surgical technique of increasing amyloid-beta levels in a select brain region. The infusion target is the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus because this brain structure, along with the basal forebrain that is connected by the cholinergic circuit, represents one of the areas of degeneration in the disease. The results of elevating amyloid-beta in the dentate gyrus via stereotaxic infusion reveal increases in neuron loss in the dentate gyrus within 1 week, while there is a concomitant increase in cell death and cholinergic neuron loss in the vertical limb of the diagonal band of Broca of the basal forebrain. These effects are observed up to 2 weeks. Our data suggests that the current amyloid-beta infusion model provides an alternative mouse model to address region specific neuron death in a short-term basis. The advantage of this model is that amyloid-beta can be elevated in a spatial and temporal manner.

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